10 Bright Spots of Week Four

1. New York Red Bulls - it is almost mean not to give them the number one spot as two MLS records were broken (Best Start for a Goalkeeper and, ultimately, Best Start for an MLS team); my only worry is that this start is too good to be true - either way, their fundamentals are sound, they're scoring goals, and they have a solid core of player and team leadership


2. Eddie Johnson - he starts off the scoring on Wednesday in a 3-0 win over Toronto and then spoils the Toronto home opener on Saturday with an 81st minute strike; at what point do you just call this guy an asshole!? Regardless, EJ has regained his form and looks to spar with Taylor Twellman for MLS Scoring Champ

3. DC and Houston - for the sweet Maroon jerseys which raised a considerable amount of money for the Hokie Spirit Fund; it really is a shame that a win didn't follow...great stuff as Victor MacFarlane and Will Chang (owners) will auction off jerseys as well and match the highest bidder for each


4. Hunter Freeman - the former US Men's U-20 NT standout refuses to believe he has won Arena's favor in the 'hunt for the red fullback', a late and well-positioned goal kickstarted the FC Dallas slump which resulted in 2 home losses and put RBNY atop the Supporter's Shield race (now shared with the Fire)

5. Kevin Harmse - the 22 year old Los Angeles midfielder can pretty much already qualify as a journeyman but it seems he has found his home with the Galaxy. Harmse and Donovan linked up to result in Harmse's first MLS goal; discovered through the open LA Galaxy trials


6. Chris Seitz - young, raw, but very very talented, as a certain keeper can tell - those two Colorado goals were partly Seitz's fault but several saves in the early stages of the game kept RSL in the running for 3 points, it will be a Guzan-like growing pain kind of year (another young GK who didn't play particularly well this week against LA); will RSL find solace in Kasey Keller? Back to Rimando? Or keep Mr. Seitz? Only time will tell but I'm pretty sure we'll see Chris get another shot or two.

7. Taylor Twellman - this guy is primed to have a 20+ goal season, he has hit from short and from long proving he can pounce on any opportunity given (as long as Brian Ching isn't around to ruin it 30 seconds later). The Revs are figuring themselves out tactically and it makes it a lot easier when you have a foundation like Taylor Twellman.

8. Chris Rolfe - Rolfe caps off the solo effort weekend it was; as soon as those watching thought both Houston and Chicago's strikers were effectively ineffective, Rolfe traps a volley, throws a few hesitation steps, and slots one past Pat Onstad's near side. It was Houston's second 1-0 loss as those that participated in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup are seeing their season start off shakily


9. Toronto Fans - Clearly, those who saw the game (thanks to MLSLive.tv) knows that it felt like a Premiership game at BMO Field; Danny Dichio used the old 'cliche' referring to the fans as the '12th man' and that was not far from the truth as Toronto made some mistakes but had plenty of chances to score their first goal and get their first points. Eddie Johnson had something to say about that though.

10. The Veteran Effect - Cobi Jones, Claudio Suarez, Ezra Hendrickson - all old dudes in soccerspeak were able to knock a goal in this past week, unfortunately for Claudio it was in a losing effort, Cobi and Ezra (both probably more well known for their first name) helped their teams to much-needed wins. Cobi put the icing on the cake by putting away a Donovan feed to beat Chivas USA 3-1 and Ezra got a second chance shot after a deflection in the penalty box allowed him to half volley home the winner against D.C. United